1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to impact barriers and, more specifically, to a sports arena-wall impact barrier for athletes comprising TEMPER-FOAM™ (hereinafter T-foam or temper foam), an open-cell polymeric memory foam material with unusual viscoelastic properties, which has an impact absorbency factor greater than foam rubber and therefore will result in less injury to players. The players are absorbed into the pad, never contacting the solid wall eliminating injury to hand, wrist, arm shoulder, hip, knees etc.
The impact barrier comprises overlapping panels of TEMPER-FOAM™ (T-foam) that are releasably secured one to the next having no seam perpendicularly extend between the front and back panel surfaces.
Each panel comprises spaced apart front and back surfaces with a top and bottom surface and contoured side surfaces forming the boundaries of the T-foam. Panel overlaps are provided on opposing sides with a releasable bonding element to prevent seam separation under pressure. Preferably, Velcro® serves as the panel bonding element with the mating Velcro® members fixed to opposing sides so that mating panels have mating Velcro® members from one to the other.
Both sides have a three surface contour comprising two offset substantially perpendicular surfaces with the third substantially parallel extending between the other surfaces interior ends forming a somewhat Z-shape in cross section. Since each perpendicular surface extends only partially between the front and back and that they are offset provides that an impact on the bound seam can not form a breech to the underlying structure as can occur on panels having a rectangular cross-section that are simply butted one to the next.
While the instant invention is disclosed in the preferred embodiment as an impact barrier for walls, the same application is applied to irregular surfaces that may include a cantilevered flange forming an end cap. Again having the result that no single-surface seam extends between the front and back surfaces.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other barrier device designed for impact. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 3,564,801 issued to Huerta on Feb. 23, 1971.
Another patent was issued to Omholt on Jul. 8, 1975 as U.S. Pat. No. 3,893,275. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,914 was issued to Omholt on Dec. 16, 1980 and still yet another was issued on Jul. 4, 1989 to Gavin, et al. as U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,788.
Another patent was issued to Hayashi, et al. on Sep. 17, 1981 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,591. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,785 was issued to Davidson, Jr. on Nov. 3, 1992. Another was issued to Carter, Jr. on Mar. 4, 1997 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,606,841 and still yet another was issued on May 12, 1998 to Bucher as U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,193.
Another patent was issued to Langer, et al. on Apr. 13, 2004 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,720,402. Yet another U.K. Patent No. GB 2156735 was issued to Sharp on Oct. 16, 1985. Another was issued to Dodd on Apr. 13, 1994 as European Patent Application No. EP0619989 and still yet another was issued on Nov. 8, 2000 to Dodd, et al. as U.K. Patent No. GB 2349652.
A joint element for securing partitions or the like to each other, said joint element comprising parallel outer and inner leg members of substantially the same length, but offset with respect to each other, each of said outer and inner members having a free end portion and an opposite end portion, an intermediate leg member parallel to said outer and inner leg members and positioned between the same, said intermediate leg member being shorter than said outer and inner leg members and having one end portion aligned with said opposite end portion of said outer leg member and its other end portion aligned with said opposite end portion of said inner leg member, and a pair of connecting members of substantially the same length extending perpendicularly to all of said leg members, one of said connecting members connecting said one end portion of said intermediate leg member with said aligned opposite end portion of said outer leg member, and the other of said connecting members connecting said other end portion of said intermediate leg member with said aligned opposite end portion of said inner leg member, whereby said intermediate leg member is connected to said outer leg member to form a male mating means and said intermediate member is connected to said inner leg member to form a female mating means, male and female mating means of a joint element carried by one partition or the like cooperating engaging female and male mating means, respectively, of a joint element carried by another partition or the like to secure the partitions to each other, said respective joint elements when so engaged defining therebetween a tortuous path forming a hermetic seal, said joint element further including a pair of slightly spaced flange members extending perpendicularly from said free end portions of each of said outer and inner leg members for reception between each pair of flange members of facing elements forming part of a partition or the like, said flange members connected to said free end portion of said outer leg member extending toward said intermediate leg member and said flange members connected to said free end portion of said inner leg member extending away from said intermediate leg member.
A low profile rebound wall for use in sports activity is provided. The wall presents a substantially planar plumbed outer surface having almost totally uniform ball impact response characteristics and being free of vibration when struck. The wall includes spacer shims secured to a receiving surface. The spacer shims may have varying thicknesses to accommodate variations in the planarity and verticality of the receiving surface. The wall panels are in contact with the spacer shims, and a pourable material which will become adhesive and cohesive is poured between the panels and the receiving surface.
A resiliently impact cushioned adhesive-applied restricted growth low profile wall surfacing system for use in sports activities is provided. The wooden or composition wall members are held in place by spaced ridged elastomeric cushioning adhesive material between the wall members and the receiving surface. The elastomeric cushioning adhesive material has sufficient gripping and tensile strength to overcome normal horizontal and buckling expansive forces which can be generated by an increased moisture content within the wall members during periods of atmospheric moisture changes. The elastomeric cushioning adhesive material also provides substantial resilient cushioned support behind the wall members to assure desired ball rebound action, and to absorb ball impact sounds within the confines of the playing court, and provides a substantially planar wall even though the receiving surface may be relatively non-planar.
A modular seclusion room for confining violent patients wherein the four walls and floor are lined with a padded lining that is abrasion resistant, fire retardant, and shock absorbent. Ventilation and lighting are provided through the ceiling of the room and with access provided by an externally controlled closeable door through one wall. The seclusion room is portable and modular so that it may be quickly assembled within an existing structure in a number of possible sizes and configurations.
A shape memory polymer foam which takes on a deformed shape and an as-molded shaped, said deformed shape being produced when the polymer foam is compressed at a temperature higher than the glass transition point (Tg) of the polymer and then kept compressed at a temperature lower than the Tg until compression sets, said as-molded shape being produced when the compressed polymer foam is heated again to a temperature higher than the Tg until it recovers its original shape.
A resilient padding body which comprises an intermediate base layer and upper protuberances extending upwardly off the surface of the base layer and bottom protuberances extending downwardly off a lower surface of the base layer. The padding body includes longitudinal and lateral upper recesses which are formed between the upper protuberances. The upper protuberances have side walls which slope inwardly to form an object which is in the shape of a truncated pyramid and angled recesses. The base of the upper protuberances is essentially coplanar with the base member's upper surface. The base of each upper protuberance is separated by a slit which extends into the base member for about one half of the base member's thickness. The bottom protuberances include foundation sections which have vertical side walls. The foundation sections are spaced sufficiently to form a narrow channel between adjacent foundation section walls. A truncated pyramid shaped lower section extends downwardly off each of the foundation sections to form longitudinal and lateral angled recesses which open into the channels.
Interior wall panels having a rigid frame backing member to which an outer pliable sheet material is secured. A filling or padding material is retained between the sheet material and the backing member and the sheet material is secured through the filling in a plurality of spaced locations to thereby create a three dimensional surface relief. In some embodiments, the wall panels may be specifically constructed to provide thermal and sound insulating properties.
The impact wall element (1) for gentle deceleration of a human body impacting an obstacle has a two-zone structure. The first zone comprises a lightweight, plastically deformable sandwich cover plate (10) with two thin cover layers (11, 12) and an intermediately positioned, lightweight, deformable support core (13). In the second zone are provided discreet, spaced, plastically deformable spacing elements (21), which carry the cover plate and are supported on a fixed substrate (5). The thickness D2 of the second zone is more than twice the thickness D1 of the first zone. The lightweight wall element leads to a gentle interception on the shortest possible path, particularly in the case of a head impact in motor vehicles or aircraft.
Shape memory polymer compositions, articles of manufacture thereof, and methods of preparation and use thereof are described. The shape memory polymer compositions can hold more than one shape in memory. Suitable compositions include at least one hard segment and at least one soft segment. At least one of the hard or soft segments can contain a crosslinkable group, and the segments can be linked by formation of an interpenetrating network or a semi-interpenetrating network, or by physical interactions of the blocks. Objects can be formed into a given shape at a temperature above the T.sub.trans of the hard segment, and cooled to a temperature below to T.sub.trans of the soft segment. If the object is subsequently formed into a second shape, the object can return to its original shape by heating the object above the Ttrans of the soft segment and below the Ttrans of the hard segment.
A padding material, suitable e.g. for padding prison restraint cells or mental hospital rooms comprises a facing layer (1) of polyester mesh reinforced ABS bonded to an intermediate layer (5) of polyethylene foam by a heat cured adhesive. The intermediate layer (5) is bonded to a backing layer (8), e.g. by heat welding. The backing layer (8) is harder than the intermediate layer and is formed of a relatively hard layer (9) of polyethylene foam secured to a softer layer 10 of polyethylene foam. The material is secured to a surface to be padded by means of adhesive with a small gap left between adjacent sheets of padding material. The gap is filled with a sealing compound and covered by a strip of ABS which is solvent welded to the facing layer (1) of the main padding sheets.
A padded room for a veterinary hospital or the like comprises a foam layer (10) bonded to the walls and floor of the room and a polyurethane coating (15) spray-coated in situ onto the foam sheets to form a continuous skin. For formulation of the polyurethane coating provides a tough semi-rigid skin which, when bonded to the foam rubber, is able to withstand the substantial forces associated with use of the room by shod horses.
The method includes securing with adhesive, foam material to the hard surface, securing a textile material to outer surface of the foam material with an adhesive and applying to the surface of the textile material a pre-vulcanized latex liquid. Typically the hard surface to be padded is the floor or walls of a room, such as an animal enclosure or kennel and as such battens may be located at the junction between the wall and floor for additional strength. Preferably the textile material is a non-woven needle punched geo-textile, and more preferably is polypropylene. The pre-vulcanized latex liquid may be coloured and applied to the surface of the textile material by roller or as a spray.
While these barrier devices may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention, as hereinafter described.